Dreams of Black Wall Street

Oklahoma: A Promised Land (1x2)

Fecha de emisión: Feb 18, 2020

To understand the rise and eventual fall of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street, it’s important to understand the racial and economic conditions that contributed to it. These dynamics really started to take shape during Oklahoma's oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which attracted people of various ethnicities and income levels to the region. The discovery of oil in Indian Territory and later in what became the state of Oklahoma also spurred business and development in many parts of Oklahoma, including Tulsa. However, the opportunities a person had available to them in what we call the state of Oklahoma today, and how well they did under the changing economic circumstances, depended on a number of circumstances: namely ones race. Guests of Episode 2 include Michelle Place, the Executive Director the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum, as well as Eugene Harrod, Adjunct Professor at The College of the Muscogee Nation. Historical artifacts include an audio recording of an interview between Tulsa historian and author, Eddie Faye Gates, and a man named Alfred Barnett, who lived and worked in Tulsa at the time of the oil boom.